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Chapter 661: A Confrontation and the Assistant's Role
Chapter 661: A Confrontation and the Assistant's Role
After returning from Hagrid's place, Kyle didn't do much else.
For the next few days, he holed up in an empty classroom on the sixth floor, working on his holiday homework. From the window, he had a clear view of Hagrid's hut.
Today, as usual, Kyle arrived early and settled into his familiar spot by the window, occasionally glancing up from his holiday assignment.
Soon, he spotted an owl flying toward Hagrid's hut. It dropped off a letter and flew away.
Hagrid took the letter and, pretending to be discreet, looked around before hurrying into his house and closing the door tightly.
Everything was exactly the same as it had been the previous few days.
But just as Kyle was about to continue with his Potions essay, another person suddenly appeared near the Forbidden Forest.
It was Filch... He had been hiding behind a large tree and only emerged after Hagrid had closed the door.
Kyle immediately tossed his quill aside and watched as Filch sneaked up to Hagrid's wooden house and peered through the window.
However, the curtains were drawn tightly, and even the gaps in the wooden hut were sealed, making it impossible to see anything from the outside.
Filch circled the house a couple of times but, having made no discoveries, left grumbling and cursing.
Upon seeing this, Kyle immediately packed up his things, intending to head back to the common room to send the most crucial letter.
However, on his way downstairs, he ran into Snape.
"I thought you'd broken the rules again and sneaked out of school," Snape said coldly. "What a disappointment."
"Professor, I've been at school all these days," Kyle said. "If you don't have anything else, I'll be on my way back."
Kyle didn't intend to waste more time with Snape and tried to walk past him.
But Snape blocked his path once more.
"Wait a moment," he said. "It's been less than a week, and I believe you haven't forgotten what you promised the headmaster."
Kyle looked up at Snape. "If you're talking about helping Harry learn the Mind-Blocking Charm... of course, I remember."
"Then good." Snape glanced at him. "Follow me."
"Are we starting now?" Kyle stayed put.
The holidays weren't over yet. Normally, wouldn't this kind of thing wait until after the start of term? And Harry should still be at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, shouldn't he? Surely they weren't going to teach him by paying a visit there... that was Sirius Black's territory.
"Yes, now," Snape turned and said impatiently, "Come along, I won't say it a third time!"
Reluctantly, Kyle put his plan to send the letter from the common room on hold and followed Snape.
When they reached the underground classroom, Kyle was surprised to find Harry, who should have been at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, already there.
However, from his tense expression and heavy breathing, it was clear that Harry was not happy. The way he glared at Snape, his eyes seemed ready to spit fire.
Of course, Snape's expression was equally frosty.
"Believe me, Potter," he said softly, "If it weren't for the headmaster's request, I would never allow you to set foot in this place."
"Should I be grateful for your generosity?" Harry asked through gritted teeth, his face reddening.
He suspected that Snape was doing this on purpose.
There were still ten days left until the end of the holidays, and Sirius had promised to take him to Diagon Alley to choose new furniture for his bedroom.
Yet here he was, forced to return to Hogwarts to learn the Mind-Blocking Charm.
For a moment, Harry even considered dueling it out with Snape.
"There's no need for gratitude," Snape said, as if he couldn't detect the anger in Harry's tone. His expression was calm. "Just absorb some of the lessons you've been taught before, and don't make me repeat the same things I've said countless times."
"But why now?" Harry blurted out. "Can't it wait until school starts?"
"It seems you'd rather have fun than consider the safety of the members of the Order of the Phoenix," Snape said coldly. "I made it very clear last time that the Dark Lord has realized you can sense his thoughts and has deduced that this situation can be reversed... in other words, the Dark Lord has realized he can sense your thoughts as well.
"Or do you think the Dark Lord is as arrogant and foolish as you, knowing nothing?
"Or perhaps, you view this as an exciting game... intruding into the Dark Lord's thoughts must be more interesting than Wizard's Chess, isn't it?"
"I haven't!" Harry shouted. "I've never thought that way!"
"Hmph..." Snape sneered, "If you haven't thought that way, then you should be eager to learn the Mind-Blocking Charm instead of complaining that I'm ruining your holiday!"
Harry's face turned even redder, and he wanted to argue, but he didn't know what to say... It was as if a voice in his head kept telling him that Snape was right.
"Alright, I understand," Harry said reluctantly. "I won't give Voldemort the chance to sense my thoughts..."
"Do not say the Dark Lord's name!" Snape snapped.
"The same as last time," Snape drew out his wand from under his robes and said, "Protect your mind from intrusion or defeat me, using any spell you wish!"
"Professor Snape..." At this moment, Kyle, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. "I think it's necessary for me, as a qualified assistant, to demonstrate to Harry what he should do."
Snape didn't understand what he meant at first, until he saw the eager look on Kyle's face and the wand in his hand.
"I obviously disagree with you, and a qualified assistant does not take it upon himself to make decisions," Snape said darkly, his face blackening with anger.
He could say whatever he wanted to Harry, after all, the little magic Harry knew couldn't possibly pose a threat to him.
But Kyle was different... Snape had no plans to change offices anytime soon.
At this moment, Harry finally noticed that there was another person here besides Snape.
"Kyle, what are you doing here?" he asked in surprise. "Are you also here to learn the Mind-Blocking Charm?"
For a moment, Harry was quite excited to have a familiar face around; it was much better than facing Snape alone.
Before Kyle could explain, Snape spoke up, "Potter, if you had been listening, you would have realized that we both mentioned the term 'assistant' just now."
"Assistant?"
"I'm glad you heard that this time. I shouldn't need to explain to you what an assistant does, should I?" Snape mocked, glancing at Kyle before turning his gaze back to Harry.
"If your Mind-Blocking Charm was even half as good as his...no, even a third as good, we wouldn't be wasting our time here right now."
Harry's face turned red with embarrassment once again.
"Alright, enough chatter," Snape said, lifting his eyes.
Instead of rushing to cast a spell on Harry, he first took out a Pensieve from the cabinet, then pressed his wand to his temple, extracting a strand of silvery memory and letting it fall gently into the Pensieve.
He repeated this action a total of three times.
Kyle narrowed his eyes, finally understanding why Snape needed the Pensieve.
Snape's method of teaching Harry the Mind-Blocking Charm was to use Legilimency to invade Harry's mind, forcing him to practice continuously.
While this method yielded the best results, it also had a drawback: if the target suddenly mastered the Mind-Blocking Charm during the process, even if it was just a momentary fluke, there was a chance that the Legilimency spell could be rebounded.
Kyle guessed that this was probably what had happened the first time Snape tried to teach Harry the Mind-Blocking Charm.
No wonder Snape had been so angry those days before; everything made sense now.
Harry had accidentally rebounded Snape's Legilimency spell and taken the opportunity to glimpse some of his hidden secrets.
If this was true, even a fleeting glimpse would be enough to enrage Snape.
The solution to this problem was simple: just remove the memories that one didn't want others to see from their mind.
And that was where the Pensieve came in, serving as a repository for those memories.
It seemed that these three memories were quite important to Snape... I wonder what they could be?
Kyle was curious and glanced at the Pensieve that had been put back into the cabinet, but Snape had locked it, so he had no chance of opening it.
"Now, get ready..." Snape pointed his wand at Harry. "Legilimens!"
Harry's wand only had time to spit out a beam of white light before his body stiffened and he fell uncontrollably to the ground.
"Pitiful!"
Kyle waved his wand, and the hard floor immediately became as soft as a cushion, catching Harry's falling body gently.
At the same time, Snape also let out a muffled hum, retracting his wand-holding hand.
There was a red, swollen mark on his wrist, as if it had been branded.
"Stinging Hex?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.
It had to be said that Harry's response was quite clever.
Legilimency was a continuous spell that required maintaining a constant magical connection with the target...
When faced with such a spell, coming up with a way to break the opponent's magical connection was a good strategy.
Besides the Stinging Hex, there were also spells like Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Bombarda, or even Patronus that could be used.
As Snape lowered his wand, Harry slowly opened his eyes.
He was first surprised that he hadn't hurt himself from the fall, then he looked at Snape warily.
"Is that all you can do, a little trick like that?" Snape asked coldly, rubbing his wrist.
"I..."
"Legilimens!"
Just as Harry was about to speak, Snape pointed his wand at him again.
Harry's body stiffened once more.
"No, stop...!" he shouted as he fell to the ground.
But this time, Snape stopped Kyle from softening the ground.
"It's good for him to experience some pain, it will help him master this magic faster."
Kyle shrugged, remaining silent.
At that moment, Harry was jolted awake as his knees knocked against the table.
"That was an ambush!" he shouted angrily at Snape. "I wasn't ready."
"Your enemies won't give you prior notice," Snape reprimanded him. "I find it hard to believe that you're not taking this seriously. After all these days, you've made no progress whatsoever."
Harry glared at him, his eyes flashing with anger.
But Snape seemed unaffected and continued, "Clear your mind, Potter. I've told you before, cast aside all emotions. That is the key to mastering the Mind-Blocking Charm..."
Kyle nodded in agreement from the sidelines.
Snape was right; the key to the Mind-Blocking Charm was indeed focus and the exclusion of all distractions, especially in Harry's current situation. Although he looked fierce and determined while shouting, it wasn't helping him learn the Mind-Blocking Charm at all.
"Again, get ready... Legilimens!"
Harry fell again, his knees hitting the floor.
"You're not doing it, Potter... You need to control yourself and focus... Again!"
In the following time, Harry seemed to be in a wrestling match with Snape's office floor, falling in different positions each time.
Sometimes he fell on his knees, sometimes on his arms... One might think he was practicing some sort of wrestling technique.
Kyle was probably the most relaxed person in the room. At Snape's instruction, he would only soften the ground when Harry fell headfirst, to prevent any serious injuries.
"Get up, Potter! You're not doing it, you're not trying! I told you to cast aside your emotions!"
"I am trying!" Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Trying?" Snape snapped. "I merely showed you a memory from before you were ten years old, and you gave up all resistance, shouting at me to get out!
"A weak-willed person like you, Potter, is no match for the Dark Lord."
"I'm not weak-willed," Harry said, clenching his fists as if he were about to lunge at Snape.
"Then prove it... Legilimens!"
As expected, Harry fell to the floor once more.
"I told you to cast aside your emotions!"
"I can't!"
"Control your anger!"
...
Snape's reprimands and Harry's crashes filled the office for the next two hours until, finally... Harry fainted.
He lay on the floor, his brow furrowed, one hand covering his scar, the other waving aimlessly.
Kyle walked over and said thoughtfully, "Professor Snape, he hasn't entered the Dark Lord's mind again, has he?"
Snape didn't respond, but his face turned even gloomier.
A large glob of water appeared out of thin air and splashed onto Harry's face.
Harry woke up, kneeling on the floor and panting heavily.
"Did you see it again?" Snape asked, staring intently at Harry. "Did you enter the Dark Lord's mind?"
"I... I didn't..." Harry's eyes shifted away.
"Liar!" Snape shouted.
Harry remained silent, and the two stared at each other in a stalemate.
"Why don't we let Harry go for now," Kyle interjected, trying to ease the tension. "Two hours is enough for today. If we continue with Legilimens, he might not be able to take it."
A glimmer of hope flashed in Harry's eyes, as he was eager to leave this place.
Snape fixed his gaze on Harry's eyes for a long moment before speaking. "Same time tomorrow, we continue.
"Remember what I told you before. Before you go to sleep, clear your mind of all emotions, so that your thoughts are empty and calm."
"Okay." Harry turned and left without another word.
...
"I don't think he listened," Kyle said as the door closed behind Harry. ... Harry's thoughts were written all over his face, easy to read.
All he wanted was to get away, and he didn't pay attention to what Snape said at the end.
"An arrogant, emotional fool," Snape sighed.
"Then I'll be off as well, Professor," said Kyle.
"Wait," Snape turned to him, his eyes narrowing. "As your assistant, it's time for you to play your part. Go and make a plan for Potter to learn the Mind-Blocking Charm, including what he needs to pay attention to and what he should do in his daily life... at least three feet long. Hand it to me by this time tomorrow."
"But I have other things to do," Kyle tried to refuse.
Three feet long?! If he agreed, he wouldn't get anything else done today.
"That's not my concern," Snape said. "Since you agreed to the headmaster, you must fulfill your duties as an assistant, unless you can get out of this job.
"But I must remind you that the headmaster is not at school at the moment, so any of your ideas will have to wait until he returns."
Kyle's lips twitched... So he had to write this plan, did he? If he had known this would happen, he would have insisted on demonstrating to Harry how to defend against Legilimens earlier.
(End of Chapter)
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